All posts tagged: stark contrast

The persistent mystery of protein intake

The persistent mystery of protein intake

Scientists still aren’t sure how much we actually need. Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani. Sources: Getty. March 14, 2024, 3:57 PM ET This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present and surface delightful treasures. Sign up here. If nutritional information were a slice of bread, we’d be living in a world full of dense 24-grain-and-seed loaves. The internet is stuffed with listicles, tips, and tricks for consuming the right ratio of “macros” (fats, carbs, and proteins). Rows and rows of vitamins and supplements fill pharmacy aisles. Calorie-counting apps track every savored crumb. But in 1918, the answer to the question “What and how much should we eat?”—the title of an Atlantic article that year—was just beginning to be scientifically understood. Published in The Atlantic in the waning days of World War I, the story is in part a reaction to living in a resource-strapped country. “Let us first consider the question how much energy is really needed; or, to put it the other way, how little …

We Get It, Jacob Elordi Is a Heartthrob

We Get It, Jacob Elordi Is a Heartthrob

By focusing on his good looks, SNL didn’t leave much room for the actor to let loose. Will Heath / NBC January 21, 2024, 11:48 AM ET If you know two things about the Saltburn and Priscilla star Jacob Elordi, you’re probably aware that he’s very tall (Google says 6 feet 5 inches) and very handsome in a classical way (sharp cheekbones, strong chin). If you were seeking more information, you didn’t get it from his hosting gig on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live. Nearly every time Elordi was on-screen, the show made sure to remark on his beauty, and it made for a fairly sleepy 90 minutes in which attractiveness became a lazy shorthand for charisma. Trying as he might to show off his range by putting on different accents, Elordi was, in sketch after sketch, tasked with being hot so that he could be fawned over by the women in the cast. The resulting jokes felt regressive—yes, ladies were into the big, gorgeous man—and frustratingly stale. The Elordi beats of the …

Qatar Can’t Go On Like This

Qatar Can’t Go On Like This

As Israel and Hamas sink deeper into conflict, Doha finds itself in a delicate position. As a long-standing backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar has huge influence over the movement’s Palestinian affiliate, Hamas. That offers a significant opportunity in the short run. Doha’s deep connections with the Gaza-based Islamist group make Qatar a central player in the current diplomatic game. But for exactly the same reason, Doha faces the looming risk of being called to account over its record of support for such radical Islamist groups, and especially for Hamas. Doha has a long history of serving as a broker, and in the past, this has often worked well for the Gulf state. By allowing the Taliban to establish a Doha office, Qatar provided the U.S. with a channel for negotiations with the group. Doha thus facilitated the agreement to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan concluded under the Trump administration and carried out by President Joe Biden in 2021. Qatar hopes to play a similar role now. Doha has provided a home for much of …

Space Tourism Is Getting More Secretive

Space Tourism Is Getting More Secretive

Of all the high-flying tourism ventures spawned by space-obsessed billionaires, Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson, offers perhaps the most unconventional approach. It doesn’t use big rockets or gumdrop-shaped capsules. Instead, an airplane takes off with a spacecraft strapped to its wing. The spacecraft, shaped like a plane itself, holds the paying customers and more pilots. When the airplane reaches a certain altitude, it releases the spacecraft. The spacecraft’s pilots then ignite its engine, and the vehicle soars straight up, to the fuzzy boundary that separates us from the rest of the universe, before gliding back down and landing on a runway. The spaceplane experience is a stark contrast to Blue Origin’s suborbital jaunts and SpaceX’s orbital missions, but Virgin Galactic’s passengers still have a few surreal minutes of weightlessness, and they get to see the planet gleaming against the darkness of space. Those passengers have included the first former Olympian to reach space, as well as the first mother-daughter duo, and, most recently, the first Pakistani. In the midst of all that, Virgin Galactic …